Dragonflies
by MikasaSmackherman
Summary: Levi is a popular TV personality, sent to interview entomologist Hanji Zoe, who is breeding dragonflies in a wildlife sanctuary. On TV, Levi is suave and charming, but when exposed to the filthy scientist and the mucky sanctuary he loses his cool. Though Hanji looks almost nice with leaves and water drops in their hair. Modern AU, Levihan and some Eremika.
1. Chapter 1

**LeviHan based loosely on an actual interview I saw featuring a cute reporter and an entomologist who was breeding dragonflies. Levi and Hanji belong to Hajime Isayama, as does Shingeki No Kyojin/Attack On Titan. Please leave a review if you like what you read, and if you have a pair request just message me! Also, just to note, Hanji is portrayed as non-binary in this fic so I'm using "they/them" pronouns. Quite a bit of swearing, bugs, filth, booze, and at one point: pot.**

 **Sin. Beautiful sin. Enjoy!**

Levi glanced at himself in the mirror as his makeup was applied by a young blond artist who had been making cow-eyes at him since she had started working at the station. He was due on the air in twenty minutes, and as he sat drumming his fingers on the arm of his chair, he wondered where the hell Eren was with his coffee. The boy was scatterbrained most of the time, but he had a healthy fear of the TV personality, and so he tried hard not to mess up while he worked. "Look up," the girl said as she tipped his chin to apply mascara. He hated that part, he was not fond of makeup and he especially hated this stuff. His eyes watered as he tried not to blink, the invasive brush millimeters from his pupil. Despite his best efforts, he blinked, causing the makeup to smudge under his eye, "it's ok! I can fix this!" the girl chirped nervously, Levi was clearly annoyed. As handsome and charming as he was on tv, he was a fury to work with off-air. Even if one were madly in love with him, like quite a few of the station staff were, it was a well-known fact that he was a frosty asshole.

"Where the hell is Eren with my coffee?!" he barked at one of the temps, who jumped in fright and almost dropped her clipboard. "I'll get him right away, sir!" she ran off, clutching the clipboard to her chest, her face white.

He sighed, closing his eyes as the mascara was cleaned off his face.

Sitting across from him was a beautiful young man with a smug grin on his face. Jean Kirschtein was a wealthy young man from a renowned family of horse-breeders. Levi was busy asking him about the family history of it, and whether or not it had been Jean's choice to enter the family business. His assistant, Eren, was standing by one of the cameras. The woman operating it was trying to keep him quiet, as he kept whispering about how he thought Jean was a product of a donkey and a horse. "Eren, don't be rude," Mikasa whispered as she focused on her filming. "Oh come on, look at that smug git's face, there's definitely some Shetland in his blood," Eren grinned. He looked around then to make sure no one was watching, and gave her ass a quick squeeze. She flinched slightly and shot him a look that turned his blood to ice. Eren chuckled nervously and retreated to a safe distance, though he couldn't resist nodding towards the broom cupboard and mouthing "ten minutes", which was when filming would stop.

Mikasa smiled to herself and returned to her work, wondering why she let him get away with such bad behaviour.

When the interview was concluded, Levi shot the camera his usual dazzling smile, signing off with a cheerful message and a reminder to tune in tomorrow. As soon as he got the signal the cameras were off, his smile fell away and his expression darkened. He had never wanted to be involved in live television, originally he had taken a job in the studio as an errand boy years ago in an effort to make ends meet. However, upon striking up a friendship with the executive producer, he had slowly made his way up to being the number one personality on the set. This was a major surprise to both himself and his boss, Erwin Smith, both knew he was a surly bastard with little-to-no social grace. He was a damn good actor though.

He made his way off the set, oblivious to the Kirschtein boy's attempts to continue a conversation. The horse heir turned his attention to the beautiful camerawoman with the subtly muscular arms and red scarf. Levi noticed that, and a faint smirk appeared on his face. He glanced towards the closet on the other side of the room where his assistant was peeking out from, and within seconds a scarlet-faced Eren was barreling across the room. Levi had no interest in watching the boy start another fight, so he continued on his way to Erwin's office, grabbing a face-wipe off his make-up girl as he passed so he could "wipe the muck" from his face.

The studio was a rather large one, and as a result, Mr Smith had given himself a spacious office. He had a large, mahogany desk upon which his nameplate rested: Erwin Smith – Executive Producer". Levi had a habit of taking sticky notes and scrawling "shitty prick" on them to stick onto the end of the plate. Also on the desk, aside from rude and inappropriate sticky notes left by his subordinate, Erwin had files, papers, a clock and a basket of pens that were always knocked over. The man always left these items scattered across the polished wood, and Levi always found himself fixing them up. On the walls of the office were various posters and photos from different shows Smith had produced. Though the most recent ones had Levi's face plastered on them, a dazzling smile accompanied by bright eyes, though if you looked closely you could spot the photoshop. Levi hated photo shoots and as a result, a lot of editing went into the pictures to make the fans believe he wasn't the grumpy ass he usually was.

As Levi was busying himself arranging Erwin's files, the man himself entered the office. Almost twice his height with hair like spun gold, the man looked down at Levi and smiled cheerfully, "nice show today. I have another job for you to do tomorrow, some field work."

Levi raised an eyebrow, tapping the files on the desk to make them settle nicely, "where am I going this time?"

Erwin made his way around the desk to sit in the chair, resting back lazily as he brushed a strand of hair from his face, "I'm sending you to the wildlife sanctuary on the borders of Dauper. There's an entomologist there breeding dragonflies and I want you to interview them."

"Gross," Levi wrinkled his nose, wildlife meant wild animals, wild animals meant filth, "can't someone else do it?"

"I've got Petra out collecting stories about the latest series of homicides in Stohess, and Erd is busy with the weather reports, Auruo is on vacation, and Gunther is scouting for new idols," Erwin flashed him a reproachful look, "so I'm sending you, and I expect you to be charming as ever as you interview Dr Zoe."

Knowing there was no way around it with the popular crew spread out everywhere, Levi just nodded and walked out of the office. As he went to fetch his coat and bag, he noticed security dragging Eren off Jean, both yelling curses and spitting blood. Mikasa was busy over the other side of the set now, examining the cameras and making sure they were in working order.


	2. Chapter 2

Levi woke the next day with a grumble.

His room was dark, and very warm. He wriggled down under his blanket a little more, closing his eyes again as he tried to get back to sleep. Then they shot open as he realised someone was in the room with him.

In a flash, he leapt from his bed, wielding the knife he kept under his pillow. He tripped however, as the intruder fell with a shout of surprise and dragged him down with them. "I told you it was a bad idea," came a female voice. Levi looked up, wincing from the pain of the knee in his stomach. Mikasa opened the curtains, and then the window, the room flooded with light to show Levi and Eren in a heap on the floor surrounded by the astounding neatness in which the tv star kept his bedroom. "I'm sorry, sir!" Eren was apologising with fearful eyes. Levi growled and got to his feet, Mikasa helping Eren to his. She eyed the knife on the floor, and looked to the near-naked man in front of her. Levi glanced at her, then the knife, and stooped to pick it up. Neither made a comment on it.

"I brought coffee and bagels, sir!" Eren pretty much ran from the room then, his face red with shame. Mikasa adjusted her scarf slightly, and nodded to Levi before walking out, "don't let it get cold."

"Let what get cold?" Levi thought to himself, his head slightly muddled now from rapid waking and the tumble he'd taken. He rubbed his stomach, which growled despite the bruise that was blossoming on his pale skin. He made his bed quickly and threw on black pants and a dark green shirt before heading to the kitchen to find his shoes. He had mislaid them again.

In the kitchen, Eren had set out a plate, bagels, cream cheese, jam, and coffee on the table. Mikasa was leaning against the counter, waiting for the kettle to boil so she could make tea. Levi always had the good tea and in their unusual, quiet relationship she was always welcome to brew herself a cup on the mornings she arrived with Eren for field work. Eren, however, was jittery and unable to sit still. He was busying himsef pacing the floor as he sipped his latte. Brushing a hand through his hair, Levi sat at the table and began to prepare a bagel, "good morning," he said quietly, realising he had not greeted his colleagues yet. "Morning," Mikasa replied as quietly, sitting down with her steaming cup of tea. "Good morning, sir!" Eren grinned nervously, still pacing as if wired from too much coffee. "Has he even slept?" Levi asked Mikasa as he passed her a bagel. The girl had the grace to blush, as stoic as she seemed she got very shy when her "secret" relationship was brought up, "an hour, maybe. He's been excited."

"Sit down, shitty brat, eat something," Levi tossed a bagel at his assistant, who almost dropped it in his twitchy eagerness to catch it. Eren sat then, and the table began to vibrate.

"Eren," Mikasa said as she looked at her tea, "please relax."

His leg was shaking almost violently, causing ripples to form in his girlfriend's cup. Upon bringing his attention to this, he stopped, rubbing the back of his head with an embarrassed smile.

Levi almost smiled himself then, he had hired Eren only a few months ago, on the word of his camerawoman who assured him that the energetic young man was up to the challenge and eager to work for his television idol. Since then, he had almost enjoyed the days he was sent out on field work, there was something nice about having other people in his kitchen at 6AM, eating quietly and brewing tea.

He had been single for too long, he knew that, but he liked it that way. He reckoned if he had to deal with these two every morning he would go insane.

Mikasa was the one who drove them today, she was insistent on this due to Eren's lack of proper sleep the night before. Levi decided he wanted to snooze a little more, so he settled in the back of the car and rested his head against the window, watching the town landscape slowly melt into green countryside. Despite his wish to sleep a little more, he was unable to thanks to Eren's fiddling with the radio in the front passenger seat, and the fact that he kept opening the window and sending a breeze back into his face. He leaned forward to smack the boy upside his head, "oi! Fucker, what did I say about trying to sleep!?"

"Sorry, sir!" Eren yelped, closing the window and turning down the radio. Mikasa however, gave Levi the dirtiest look in the rearview window for his actions, and turned the radio up full blast as she picked up speed on the road. Levi was stuck in the back with "MMMBop" roaring in his ears as the girl flew them over the uneven, bumpy country road. An hour into the drive, Levi demanded the personal file on the person they were interviewing that day, though he had to shout it three times thanks to "I Kissed A Girl" thumping from the radio. Eren dug in his bag for the file and passed it back to his boss, trying hard to be subtle in his singing along, but failing miserably.

Levi sat back with a scowl, opening the folder then to view the grinning, idiotic-looking person in the photograph. Hanji Zoe was a renowned entomologist, specializing in the breeding of a rare species of dragonfly that was once plentiful in the Dauper area, but upon the release of the black rain frog into the local habitat, the population decreased rapidly. Levi examined Hanji's photo with distaste. In it, they were splattered with mud, their hair was in disarray, they wore stupid googles and a filthy lab coat that was probably white at some point but was now shades of black, brown, green and what he could only describe as "ugh". They were standing outside the sanctuary in the photo, looking proud as punch with themselves. He was determined to hate this person and dreaded the smile he would soon have to plaster on his face. Ironically, as he read this, the radio began to play "Sound of Silence".


	3. Chapter 3

They arrived at the Dauper Wildlife Sanctuary at 10AM, thanks to the car getting stuck in mud on the way. Mikasa and Eren were forced to push the car out, thanks to Levi's near-violent refusal to get out and help. "These pants cost $300, fuck that," he had grumbled when Mikasa rebuked him for "being a baby". They were refusing to talk to each other now. Levi's mood grew even darker then when he realised how muddy the sanctuary was today. There had been heavy rainfall the past week and the place was like a swamp, which Dr Hanji Zoe was delighted about.

They were waiting outside the sanctuary when Levi and his little crew pulled up. They excitedly clapped their hands together, "Yooo! Welcome to the sanctuary! I'm so happy we're going hunting dragonflies today!"

Levi had been getting out of the car when they said this, and something seemed wrong with how it had been said, "did you just say..."hunting"?"

Hanji nodded eagerly, bounding over to shake Levi's hand. He flinched as their muddy paws clasped around his spotless hand, "we're hunting them! It might take a few hours, I hope these aren't your good clothes!"

Levi moved to get back into the car but Mikasa grabbed him by the scruff of his neck and hauled him back, The girl smiled at the scientist, "sounds like fun, we'll be happy to wander through the sanctuary with you."

Eren was watching his boss nervously, and flinched as the man looked at him with fiery, hateful eyes, "get me Erwin on the phone, NOW, BRAT!"

Levi stood fuming as his assistant got through to Erwin, and he grabbed the phone off him to practically roar into it, "YOU NEVER SAID I WOULD HAVE TO GO INTO THIS SHITTY SANCTUARY YOU FUCKER! I THOUGHT THEY WERE GONNA SHOW ME SOME DAMN BUGS IN A JAR!"

Despite his ugly, angry fit on the phone, Hanji seemed completely oblivious, "we wouldn't keep them in jars! They're too wonderful to be kept trapped, we have to let them be free to fly around and make dragonfly babies! It's gonna be so much fun, guys, we're gonna get into the really smooshy parts and check the reeds and it'll be great!"

Mikasa looked highly amused with the situation as she began to unpack her gear from the boot of the car. Eren just watched his boss with a nervous expression, the man was red-faced and near-ready to pop a vein with the way he was yelling angrily at Erwin on the phone. Eren sighed, looking to the sanctuary with a weak smile, he would be glad if they could leave today without anyone getting killed.

Hanji was infuriating and he hated them very much.

They were so happy, and chirpy, and excited about their work, it was sickening. They were also filthy and smelled like pondwater, Levi wanted to drag the person into a shower and scrub them until they were pink and smelled like flowers.

He stood at the gate that led into the marshlike side of the sanctuary. He had turned quite pale at the prospect of wandering down into this filth in his shiny shoes and neatly-pressed pants. Eren was busying himself with the "emergency foundation". His boss was in serious need of it right now, he would look like a ghost on camera without it. Hanji refused any sort of makeup. Their skin was a lovely brown from the many days of sunshine outdoors, though there was a clear print of slightly paler skin around their eyes from where they would fix their silly goggles. Hanji had leaves in their hair, and grass-stains on their forearms, revealed when they rolled up their sleeves as the countdown to broadcasting began. "Avoid the muddy places," Levi warned them as Eren's fingers counted down from five.

As he hit one, Levi's face lit up with his usual charming tv smile. It was like seeing a grumpy goblin transform into an Elf prince, Mikasa had once told Eren. He had responded by being extremely jealous and had dragged her away for a "secret" shag.

"I'm here today in Dauper, with entomologist Dr Hanji Zoe," Levi sounded so enthusiastic as he spoke, there was a giddy ring to his tone that caused his crew to wonder why the man had not just gone into the film industry instead. "Dr Zoe, would you like to tell our audience why we're here today?" he held his microphone out to the muddy entomologist, who grabbed it excitedly and threw a hand in the air, "WE'RE GOING TO HUNT DRAGONFLIES!"

There was a slight twitch to Levi's smile as he took the microphone back, "woah there! Haha, no need to yell, Doc!"

"I can't help it! I've got to go find them, RIGHT NOW! I'M SO PUMPED! WA-HOOOO!"

It was clear that Hanji had no idea how to behave on camera, and with it being a live broadcast there was nothing the crew could do besides follow the embodiment of giddiness as they took off running into the mud.


	4. Chapter 4

It had been horrific.

They had spent 2 hours out in the mud and by the end of it Levi was dripping with mud from head to toe. At first he had cautiously made his way after Hanji, unable to do anything else thanks to broadcasting live. Up until then, the man had not realised just how badly he was afraid of bugs. It was a nightmare. He had tried to keep up his cool, charming facade as he interviewed Hanji, but he kept breaking his sentences, flinching and downright leaping away as weird bugs flew lazily around, landing on him and crawling. "So how long have you been doing th-argh!" He had began to frantically wave his hand after a fat black fly had landed on it, and though Mikasa and Eren tried their hardest not to laugh, Hanji mistook Levi's flailing for excitement, "I've been at this for ten years now and it's just wonderful! Every day I get to come out here and see all these lovely creatures and make friends with them all!"

Levi tried to laugh in a good-natured fashion, but it came out nervous and slightly manic, "f-friends you say? With all these bugs?"

"Oh there's not just bugs!" Hanji clapped their hands together before making a sweeping gesture to the muddy water they were standing hip-deep in, "there's all sorts of great wildlife here! For example, despite the black rain frog eating the dragonflies, there's a nice little amount of them around the place! Watch this!"

Looking queasy, Levi stood by as Hanji scanned the water in a crouching position, before they threw themselves into the water, splashing everyone and the camera. Mikasa couldn't help laugh, she had her waterproof gear on the machine today, and Levi looked scandalized as he watched dirty water drip from his sleeves. Eren assured him in a whisper that there was a clean shirt in the car. Mikasa was busy zooming in on Hanji as they reemerged from the water with a grumpy-looking black frog. It was fairly hideous and looked thoroughly pissed off with the world. It reminded her of Levi.

In an attempt to recapture his usual on-air elegance, Levi smiled and looked interested, "so this is the creature that helped deplete the dragonfly population?"

Hanji nodded, petting its back with a smile, "it's a cute little thing, isn't it!? Well it won't be allowed finish off the dragonflies, I have something very cool to show you, if we can find it!"

Levi swallowed nervously as she let the frog hop back into the water. He jumped then as something long rubbed against his leg, "are there eels in here?!"

"Only a few!" Hanji grinned, leading the group further into the muck.

Further down, the crew watched as Hanji began to carefully separate clumps of reeds. They looked so serious for those few minutes, Levi noticed with surprise. Their brown eyes scanned the reeds, one hand pushed their goggles up onto their head to hold their hair back. There was a little sunshine now that made the water droplets on their strands sparkle. Levi, for a moment, gave a smile.

That all changed when Hanji let out a "WHOOP!" of triumph, causing him to stumble back in the water and fall. Mikasa laughed, Eren froze in terror, and Hanji didn't notice as she beckoned the camera closer to zoom in on the tiny dragonfly larvae that were stuck to the reeds. Levi spluttered to the surface of the water, coughing and swearing, but luckily he had washed a little bit aways from the crew, and the viewers would not hear his foul mouth assail everything in the universe that he now declared eternal hatred for. Eren quickly waded over to help his boss, whispering urgently that he had to regain his composure, but as the camera turned to him, Levi just stood there looking murderous. "These are the larvae that are going to hatch in the next two weeks," Hanji was telling him excitedly, seemingly unaware that their interviewer was looking ready to choke the life out of them. Mikasa was doing a masterful job though, making sure to keep only Hanji, the larvae, or wide shots of the landscape in the frame as Hanji gushed about the mating habits of the bugs.

By the time she called cut, Levi was twitching with both cold and rage.

"That was so much fun! Thanks so much for coming today!" Hanji enthusiastically shook the hand of each crew member, though Levi made a point of washing his immediately after in the sink. They were in the breakroom of the sanctuary facility, having warm drinks and lunch now that filming was over. Eren had been sure to pack clean, dry clothes for everyone to change into after. He had told Levi he knew they were going into the mud, but he thought he knew that and hadn't mentioned it. Needless to say, Eren had received a whack to the head.

Levi felt filthy, and as a result, he felt ill. He had not been able to shower, to wash himself clean. He had to peel off his ruined outfit, dry the filth onto himself and pull on clean clothes. The shower in the facility was broken, and would remain so until there was enough spare cash from the meager funding cheque received to fix it. Hanji continued to chatter excitedly to Mikasa and Eren about their work, though their sentences were punctured with wild gestures that slopped coffee and sprayed crumbs everywhere. If Levi was said to have no social grace, Hanji Zoe was no better than a toddler who had eaten too much glue. There were moments, however, throughout their mad ramblings, that Hanji took on a serious tone about their work. In those moments, Levi could not help but watch as they spoke, and found despite the burning hatred he felt for them exposing him to this awful place, there was something ever-so-slightly fascinating about this goggled freak of nature.


	5. Chapter 5

When Levi was finally home, he immediately ran for his bathroom, throwing his clothes off as he went. He jumped into the shower and began to scrub himself as the hot water scorched his skin. He was freezing after all that time in the water and he was going to stay in the shower until he was sure every inch of him was clean. He watched as the dirty water flowed down the drain, eventually running clear. He scrubbed his hair until he was sure his scalp was bleeding, and then simply sat on the shower floor awhile, thinking about what a horrible day he'd had. He sighed, hugging his knees to his chest as he traced pictures on the steaming glass of the shower door. He drew a dragonfly, and a pair of goggles, before angrily wiping them away and rubbing his face. He never wanted to see bugs or shitty entomologists ever again. Even if their hair did look pretty with leaves and water drops in it. He spat a few curses, stood up, and got out of the shower. He was going to go get drunk.

Eren got the call around 11PM, "oi, shitty brat, ge' down here an' drink wi' me."

Mikasa was sitting on his sofa, watching him as he tried to make sense of his boss on the phone. They had been having a horror-film marathon and she was more than a little freaked out and wanted Eren to come back so she could latch onto his arm again. "Jus' come down an' drink wi' me, there's no'n here an' is boring!" Levi had been drinking since 5 that afternoon, apparently the trip to Dauper had been far more traumatic than expected. Eren sighed, hung up the phone and looked to Mikasa, "I have to go meet Levi at some bar, will you be ok here?"

His answer was Mikasa leaping into his arms and knocking him over with a shriek of "don't leave me here alone!"

He groaned as he patted her back, the air knocked out of him, she was tough as nails but when it came to horror movies she was a total wimp, "let's go get a drink then, love."

They found Levi in his usual bar, a dive on the corner of the red light district where no one cared who he was. It was one of the few places he could drink in peace, and tonight it was pretty much empty. He looked over as Eren and Mikasa walked in, raising his glass of vodka with a drunken smile, "you guys! Awh, you guys came. Tha's cute. Did I inerupt date night?"

"You're fucked," Mikasa remarked with amusement, poking her boss' cheek, "completely fucked drunk."

"Ih was awful, so muddy, fuckin' filth erywhere.." Levi grumbled, taking a gulp of his vodka. Eren made a face, that was straight alcohol in the glass. Mikasa ordered a screwball for herself and a beer for Eren. "Hey you're both unerage.." Levi frowned, with an adorably confused face that looked positively foreign on him. "Shut up, no one cares here," Mikasa hissed, elbowing him in the ribs. "Eren! Control your girlfren!" Levi looked shocked, and Eren had to laugh, this was the most drunk he'd ever seen the man. "What happened, sir? Why did you come here?" he asked as he sat by his boss and picked up the beer that had just been set down by his arm. "They like tha' fuckin mud so much, is gross!" Levi growled, double-tapping his glass on the bar to order another, "an' they c'be so clean an' nice lookin'! They have t'eyes, those eyes were so.."

Levi got distracted by his drink, downing the last of it before another was dropped off to him. Mikasa was watching him as she sipped her screwdriver, and then she looked to Eren, "think he has the hots for Hanji. Icequeen Levi is feeling carnal."

"Oh shup, you like Eren," Levi spat in return, hitching his thumb in his assistant's direction, "you two fuck in t'cupboard, I know, I heard once."

Mikasa was as red as her scarf now and ready to slap the man, but Eren cut in, "so you're annoyed about the interview today, sir? You didn't like Dr Zoe or the sanctuary?"

"Ih was fuckin' awful," Levi fumbled in his pockets then to pull out a box of cigarettes, "they have so much potential an' they can't go jus' fuckin' clean themself no i'stead they jus' wanna waddle in mud an' looka bugs all day."

Eren nodded as he tried to make sense of Levi's drunken slurs, "they were nice though, they're not a bad person."

"Hanji Zoe can go fuck'emself," Levi muttered as he lowered his head onto the bar, closing his eyes, "shitty goggles wi' nice hair an' eyes, and ass.."


	6. Chapter 6

Levi awoke the next day in his bed with a splitting headache and awful stomach cramps. On the bedside cabinet was a pint of water and some asprin, and a note from Eren saying not to worry about the night before, he did nothing and said nothing to embarrass himself. Levi figured that if that were true there would have been no need to write it. He groaned, sitting up to down the medicine before dragging himself to the bathroom to relieve his aching bowels.

After frying up all the meat and eggs in his fridge, he sat crosslegged on his sofa to watch some tv. With tired, dark eyes he munched his breakfast almost mechanically, waiting for the thumping in his brain to subside. He was trying not to think about what he could remember from last night. He was confused though, he could have sworn Mikasa was there, and the thought made him rub his ribcage, where a discoloured bruise had appeared. He shoveled more eggs into his mouth as he watched a commercial for bug spray, and thought about dragonflies.

He felt a sickening jolt in his stomach then, he'd been talking about Hanji the night before. He rubbed his face with a groan, he knew he'd made a comment about their ass. Levi's appetite had disappeared, so he dropped his plate on the coffee table and lay down on the sofa to whine to himself about his own stupidity.

He ended up falling asleep after fifteen minutes, and was only awoken by the sound of his phone ringing. Irate from being woken, he got up to sluggishly walk to his bedroom and fish in his pockets for his phone. He didn't recognize the number calling, but answered anyway with a rather harsh "what?"

"Yoooo! Levi!"

He felt the room shift under him as Hanji's giddy voice yelled in his ear. "What do you want?" he asked rudely, feeling his face heat up as he sat on his bed. "I wanted to thank you for yesterday! My friends and family were watching the interview and they all called which they don't do often and it was really cool and they're sending me a recorded copy of it and-"

"Yeah, super, ok, whatever," Levi sighed, rubbing his temple with his free hand. The headache was starting to come back, "I'm hanging up now."

"Ok then! Have a nice day, I'm gonna go down and take some notes at the egg site and see how those babies are growing, it's gonna be so cool when they all hatch there has to be a good few hundred eggs from what I've seen which means there's probably even more all over the place and-"

Levi hung up the phone and dropped it on the bed, before putting his burning face in his hands, lying back and curling up on his side with a frustrated sound.

Two weeks later, Levi was being driven to work, and was looking at a picture he had found in his bag. It was the same photo of Hanji Zoe that had been in their file, and he had decided to keep it for reasons unknown to even him. He was telling himself it was a warning to never take on any form of field work ever again. Eren had caught him looking at it twice now and was making comments that were earning him smacks. He had no interest in this damn goofball, they were filthy and loud and had weirdly large hands. Nevertheless, his cheeks grew rosy whenever they were mentioned.

At the studio, he went straight to Erwin's office to tidy up the mess he knew would be waiting there. The blonde giant was waiting for him when he entered the office, to Levi's surprise. "What're you doing here so early, Erwin?" he asked as he approached the desk. "Gunther came back with a few new idols so we're having a Special tomorrow for them," the man said as he focused on the paperwork in front of him. Levi worked around him, cleaning up files and pens and mugs, "that mean I have tomorrow off?" he asked as he threw wrappers and scraps of paper into the trash. "No, no, you'll be recording out in Dauper again, the dragonfly larvae are going to hatch and the Network wants a follow-up," Erwin replied as if it were no big deal. Levi dropped the mug he was holding, and it shattered on the floor. Erwin looked up from his work as if seeing Levi for the first time, "are you ill? You're bright red."

"I am not going back to that shitty place with those shitty bugs and that fucking shitty goggles Hanji!" Levi protested, he damn near stamped his foot like a child. Erwin had no reaction to this, "Ackerman and Jaeger have been briefed on this already, they'll be over to get you at dawn," the man shot Levi a sultry smile, "wear something old, you're gonna get dirty."

For the rest of the day people tended to avoid Levi. Even Mikasa was on her best behaviour despite being one of the few people who could talk back to him and insult him. Levi was on the warpath and was having a very difficult time maintaining his calm, suave personality on air, though when their celebrity chef, a young woman named Braus, fixed him a special herbal tea in their on-set kitchen, he seemed to calm down straight away and was almost giggly for the remaining hour.

"The secret is pot," Chef Braus shrugged when the cameras were off, and she slipped Eren a small bag before she left. He was glad Mikasa had not seen, he would have to convince her to let him try it later


End file.
